ASSIMILATION AND CONTRAST AS RANGE-FREQUENCY EFFECTS OF ANCHORS

Judgments of the sizes of squares shifted away from the values assigned to anchors, which were new, more extreme sizes. This contrast effect was greater when groups of 8 undergraduates were restricted to a fixed set of verbal categories than when they made numerical identifications, similar to magnitude estimations. After the anchors were removed, judgments shifted back toward preanchor levels. However, the postanchor identifications shifted beyond the preanchor levels, ending with assimilation rather than the usual contrast. Data were interpreted using the range-frequency theory previously applied to unanchored judgments. 2 surprising predictions were confirmed in tests using numerical identifications: (1) anchors had little effect when stimuli corresponding to different parts of the extended range of judgment were presented with equal frequency, and (2) distant anchors produced assimilation rather than contrast. (17 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1969 American Psychological Association.